Video: F-35C’s First Formation Flight

For sake of clarity, and not sounding like a jerk- I respectfully disagree with your analysis. While I think it is certainly a valid argument (and a well written paper), I think your missing the point of what we are paying for here. We have committed our resources to this project and in my opinion should see it through. Of course time tested designs are inherently better and evolutionary development is safer and cheaper than designing a brand new aircraft. The F-35 has been designed to defeat both current and future weapon systems. While the F-18 is certainly capable of performing well in today's combat environment, it seems that the F-35 is better suited for continuing to provide dominance into the future. Upgrading the F-15 seems like a better idea than buying a bunch of F-22s, but (arguably) the F-22 would still dominate even upgraded F-15s in combat. This is a brand ne...